Fastener.



J. H. FISHER.

FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.14, 1913.

l 1,096,897. Patented May 19,1914. r

fyi l, 6

JOHN H. FISHER, 0F WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 19, 1914.

Application filed January 14, 1913. Serial No. 741,964.

T0 all whom it may concern: 4

Be it known that I, JOHN H. FISHER, a citizen ofthe United States, residing in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fasteners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andv exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to separable fastening devices, such as are commonly used for gloves, articles of apparel, tent flies, vehicle curtains and the like, involving a stud member and a coperating socket member attached to the meeting edges of. the article to be fastened, and has for its object to provide a fastener of the indicatedy character and of any of the standard or well known forms, with means to hold the parts securely in locked relation and prevent accidental separat-ion thereof, but nevertheless to admit of the ready engagement and disengagement of the' parts when the relative movement of the stud and socket member is effected in a definite and predetermined manner.

To this end, the invent-ion comprises coL operating stud and socket members, one of which is inherently` resilient at its zone of engagement with the other member so that it is capable of being deformed under slight pressure when the parts are being engaged or disengaged, the stud member having a head adapted to enter the socket and `to be held by the socket, said head having an enlargement on one side thereof adapted to so engage the socket as to preventinitial separation of the stud and socket sections at the point of enlargement ofthe head, so that disengagement of the parts can be effected only by a relative lifting movement between the head and socket initiated: atthe side of the head opposite the enlargement thereon. This construction while admitting of an in# tentional engagement and disengagement of the parts of the fastener with as greater-pedition and facility as 'characterize the standard types of such fasteners now in use, nevertheless. effectively precludes the accidental separation or unlocking of the parts after they have been once engaged.

. 'In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 isa vertical sectionthrough a separable fastener involving a rigid stud and a resilient socket of standard type to which the inventionis applied. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of -teristics is similar to the stud member. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan View of the socket member. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a similar fastener involving a. rigid socket member and a resilient 'stud member, the socket member being shown' in section. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the socket member. Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the fastener illustrated in Fig. 4 showing the relation of t-he parts durin the engagement or disengagement of. t e stud and socket members.` Fig. 7 is a plan View of a one piece stud member adapted to be sewed or similarly fastened to one edge of an' article of clothing or the like. Fig. 8 is a plan View ofthe cooperating socket member. Fig. 9 is a vertical section showin the relation of they parts shown in Figs. and 8, while they are beingA engaged or disengaged.

Referring to Figs. l, 2 and 3 of t-lie drawings, 1- indicates the stud member of a separable fastener, which in its general characthe ordinary type of rigid head stud formed of spun metal and comprises a base flange 3 merging into a const-ricted neck 2 surmount'ed by a bulbous head 4 which converges into the neck to form a shoulder under which the edge flange surrounding t'he opening in the eyelet member engages. Unlike the standard head, however, the present head is not round in horizontal cross section, butI is providedfwith a protrusion or enlargement 5 on one side which extends beyond the normal circular contour of the head and is preferably given a slight upward cant or inclination. The saidA member is adapted to be secured to the edge of a glove or other article by means of a hollow thimble-like member 6, the shank of which is inserted through the neck of the stud and the upper end spun or upset into engagement' with the central walls of the stud so that the said stud is' locked to the article bet'wcen the fiange 3 and the coperating flange on the thimble 6, as will be readily understood from the illustration. The socket member may be of any of the Well known resilient socket types and as indicat'edin the drawings, comprises a body portion 11 provided with spring arms 12 bent to form an eyelet which passes through a hole in one flap ofthe article to bc secured by the fastener. Over the body portion l1 is mounted a cap piecelO which is locked to the body 11 by a bent washer 14. fingers 12 of the eyelet` piece 11 extend well up into the body of the socket and are curved The spring- '11 or rolled to embrace the edge of the circular or the like with opening in the glove da.

against the under their outer ends Hatten 4face of the flap to constitute a generally circular a-nge which coperates with the cap 10 and washer le to secure the socket ,to the glove'or lthe like. The rolled shoulders of the spring arms l2 therefore constitute a resilient or yielding eyelet member through which the head of the rigid stud passes and lagainst which 'the shoulder formed between.

the head and the neck of the stud bears when the parts' are in locked position. 'lhe portions of the arms l2 immediately adjacent the eyelet opening areprovided with depressed portions 13 which constitute a strengthening rim about the socket opening and also facilitate the ready entrance ofthe stud member into the socket.

lt will be noted that the horizontal dimensions of the head member 4 of the stud are greater than the diameter of the eyelet opening so that when the stud passes into or` out of engagement with the socket member, the spring arms l2 of the socket are forced apart and' deformed to a sucient extent to permit thespassage of the heady l ofthe stud. After the head 4f has passed into engagement with the socket, however, the lsaid spring arms 12 resume their normal form and catch under the shoulder formed between the head and the neck ofthe stud. ln the ordinary type of resilient socket fasteners, the head of the cooperating Studis circular in horizontal contonr so thatthe resilient arms of the eyelet portion embrace the stud under the head thereof, with a' yielding pressureso that the socket and stud may he separated hy any pulling movement on the parts which are connected by the fastener, which would be sucient to cause the head to deform the resilient members of the socket to an extent sucient toallow the head to escape. ylhis objectionable action is well exemplified in a glove fastener of the type indicated, when a s dden movement'of the Wrist or swelling ot the Wrist muscles will cause the glove fastener to fly open. `This is clue to the fact that the spring pressure between the socket and the head is equal at all points of the sone of engagement between these parts and separation of the head and socket will hestarted at any point of such zone where the force or stress isv applied. According to the present invention, however, the enlargement or extension 5 on the head is so disposed as to engage and overlie the coacting portion of the resilient eyelet as to ed'ectively resist any Vforce tending to start the separation of the fastener member at or in the vicinityof theK enlargement 5. ln applying the stud ber to the flap` of the article to he fastened, the enlargement 5 is c. acted toward the edge ci the as indicated l" in ries.. l and incassa' '2. By this arrangement, the only application of force to disengage the stud `from the socket must he applied so as to cause the socket to rock over the head of the stud from the side opposite the enlargement 5 on the head of the stud. rll`his movement is eX- emplified in Figs. 6 and 9, in which the hand edge of the upper flap is lifted, thereby causing'the socket to turn on the head of the stud. l/lhen this movement is applied to the fastener shown on Fig, 1, the spring arms l2 on the left hand side of the 4socket will be compressed and deformed sufleft rol

ficiently to allow the engaging portion `.of

the headl to pass out of the eyelet, after which a further movement of theeyelet flap will completely free' the stud from the eyelet. "When` a force tending to swing the. socket in the reversedirect-ion, with respect to thev head, viz. from right to left in Fig. l, is applied, the enlargement on the head is edective to revent'any separation of the parts at this point, and in fact, effectively resists any and all forces tending to,.deform the resilientsocket or eyelet in the vicinity of the said enlargement of the head. lt will be seen, therefore, that when a fastener ofthe type indicated is applied to the flaps of an article to be joined, the action of the projection or enlargement 5 of the head is to securely lock the parts together and positively prevent the,v initiation of a separating movement of the elements of the fastener at orrin thevicinity of said enlargement and that separation of' the parts of the fastener can only be effected by a movement. tending to disengage the stud and socket member at a point in the Vzone vof contact between them on the side of the head. opposite the enlargement 5. The.

projection or enlargement 5, however, does not in any way interfere with the action of engaging the stud and socket lmembers of the fastener, but, on the contrary, facilitates such engagement, for it will loe seen that if the socket memloer is tilted asin Fig. t, so that the enlargement 5 enters the eyelet opening of the socket first, the particular shape and arrangement of the projection serves `to/acciuately guide the stud member into the socket. ln both 'the opening and closing trated in lligs. l to 3, the deformation the resilient eyelet portion of the socket takes place on the side of the head opposite the projection 5, the spring members l2 located at that point losing forced outward suilicienth to allow the contacting portion of the head to pass in either direction.

or projection 5 A'llO llo movements of, the fastener as illns-l l The invention is also applicable to fas- Y a dished center surrounding an opening of of the well known bird cage type, consisting of a body portion stamped from resilient sheet metal and bent to form a base flange 3', neck 2', and a head 4', one side of the latter being deformed by stretching' it outwardly and upwardly to a small extent to form a lateral enlargement 5 similar to the enlargement 5 on the head shown in Fig. -1. The resilient bars forming the head and neck exercise the necessary spring pressure between the stud and the socket to hold the parts together. The socket is of the ordinary rigid type comprising the eyelet portion l2 connected to the cap portion 10 by the washer like element'll, the lower end of the eyelet portion being spun out in the form of a horizontal flange to grasp the material to which the eyelet is applied. The peculiar coaction between the socket and like that in the formheretofore describe except that the necessary element of resiliency is applied to the stud and not to the socket. The lateral enlargement 5 serves the same function as the corresponding enlargement 5 in Fig. 1 so that the socket member can. be freed from the stud only by tilting it-from left to right as indicated in Fig. 6, which has the effect of compressing the portion of the resi-lient head opposite the enlargement 5', until the engaging portion of the socket passes the head, after which the soclet may be entirely separated from the stu In Figs. 7, 8 and 9, a si-mpler form of fastener adapted for use in connection with ordinary garments, tent flies, vehicle covers and the like is shown. In this form, the stud portion is formed from a single blank bent to the usual bird cage form, having the lateralilanges 3 dispo-sed in a horizontal plane and connected by a restrictedneck 2 with the open-work head 4 having a lateral enlargement or extension 5i which is applied to one of the ribs or bars of the head by stretching or bendingl the metal of the bar outward and upward to give a slight cant or inclination to the enlargement 5". The socket piece consists of an Ordinar washer shaped element 12 provided witii stud member in this form is substantialldyv suflicient size to clear the head when the socket piece is canted, as shown in Fig. 9,

'member 12 are preferably provided with perforations in the flanges thereof to admit of the members being sewed or otherwise attached to the parts to be joined by the fastener.

While the foregoing exemplification of the invention may be regarded as typical, it .will be understood that the fastener' may be given many other structural forms within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is 1. A separable fastener, comprising a stud member, and a coperating socket member, one of said members being inherently resilient at its zone of locking engagement with the other member, the stud member including a shank and a bulbous head, said head having a laterally extended enlargement on one side thereof adjacent the edge of the flap to which the stud member is attached to p`revent an initial separation of the stud and socket sections at said enlargement.

2. A separable fastener, comprising a stud member, and a coperating socket member, one of said members being inherently resilient at its zone of engagement with the other member, the stud member including a shank and a bulbous head, said head having an upwardly and laterally extended enlargement on one side thereof adjacent.- the edge of the flap to which the stud member is attached to prevent an initial separation of the stud and Socket sections at said enlargement.

3. A separable fastener, comprising a socket member having an opening surrounded by a resilient eyelet, and a coperating stud member having a bulbous head to engage said socket, said-head having a laterally extended enlargement on oneA side adjacent the edge of the flap to which the stud member is attached to prevent an initial separation of the stud and socket sections at said enlargement.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. FISHER.

Witnesses:

ARTI-mn L. BRYANT, Giras. J. ONEILL. 

